


Tell Me How (You'd Like To Begin)

by powerwithapen



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, nothing more than whats mentioned in canon, the boys die eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29197281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/powerwithapen/pseuds/powerwithapen
Summary: Alex suddenly smiled. He was 12 now, the sun was out already, and well, his sister was being a little ball of energy as usual, but things could definitely be worse.“Honey, don’t scare your brother like that,” their mom chuckled as she and Charles – their dad – entered his bedroom.“I swear, one of these days you’re going to give him a heart attack,” Charles said, laughter glittering in his eyes and a smile bright on his face.“Daaaad,” Alex whined, “I’m not that old.”OR: the story of the rise and fall of Sunset Curve, and the boys who formed it.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Luke Patterson (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson & Alex Mercer & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 9
Kudos: 22





	1. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some implied racism in this chapter because I think we've all agreed that Alex's parents are assholes.
> 
> Also this is just the prologue but i already have A LOT more to this story. Clearly this starts out (and might partially stay) Alex-centric, but I promise the rest of the boys will be shown a bit more eventually.

* * *

Alexander Jonathan Mercer was, by many standards, a lucky kid.

He had a big family full of people who loved him. He had friends – not super close ones, but still. He had someone to play with, to hang out with. He had two parents, and when he was three, he even got a sister. They had a cute, cuddly dog, and lived in a spacious house in a gated community. Because apparently, his dad was an important politician, not that Alex had any clue what that meant – or cared, for that matter.

He could play in the streets without fear of being kidnapped or ran over by a car. Which, to be fair, was not something he worried about, but some adult had said that was a good thing, so Alex supposed that it was.

But above all, he had parents who loved him and supported him.

Ever since he was a small child he had loved music deeply. So much so, that according to his parents, when his mom was still pregnant with him and he was restless, all they had to do to calm him down was put on some music.

He was barely even old enough to talk when they started allowing him to pick the music they would listen to all day long during the weekends. While they listened to music, they would always bake something, or play board games, or Alex and his dad – Charles – would throw a baseball back and forth.

Alex’s childhood was filled with laughter and smiles, and so. Much. _Love_.

* * *

When Alex was 8 years old, he got a record player of his own as a birthday gift, so that he could listen to music in his own room if he wanted to. With the record player came a good chunk of his parents’ record collection. Among them were Nat-King Cole, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, just to name a few.

Alex was later told that it was a bit surprising that his father – a conservative Republican politician – would let him listen to so many ‘ethnic’ people.

Alex didn’t really know what that meant, and he didn’t think it was weird either, ‘cause good music was just good music, right? It didn’t matter who made it.

* * *

When he was nine years old, his parents signed him up for little league baseball, and he could not get enough of it.

His parents and his then five-year-old sister would come to all his games and cheer him on. The best thing about baseball, though, was that he met a nice boy with deep brown hair and bright friendly eyes. His name was Bobby and he loved music just about as much as Alex did.

A boy who liked baseball AND music! Alex really didn’t think it could get any better.

Suffice to say, they became fast friends.

* * *

A year later it became apparent that Alex loved music slightly differently to what his parents did. While they could sit still and just listen and enjoy, Alex would always move in some way.

Usually, that was drumming his fingers on the table, counter, his legs, anything really. Alex had always been a nervous kid, always restless, but never in the way he would when the music came on. Whenever music played he seemed to still in his nervousness and begin to move with a purpose, and he would light up like a star. The incessant tapping of his hands remained. It didn't take long for his parents to realize he was tapping out the rhythm of the drums in every song he listened to.

And so, Alex was signed up for a music class at school, where he could learn to play on proper drums. That was the year he met Reggie Peters and Luke Patterson. Reggie played bass but wasn’t exactly the best yet. He did have a good sense of rhythm, though. His fingers were just maybe a bit too short to reach all the right grips.

Luke played regular guitar and had a similar problem to Reggie, but Luke was somehow still a little better.

Not only did Luke play guitar, but he was a pretty decent singer too. Reggie and Luke were in the music class with Alex and stuck to him like glue from day one. And since Alex was stuck to Bobby in the same way, they quickly became a group.

It took all of 12 seconds into their first meeting for Luke to discover that Bobby also played guitar, another two for him to lose his mind from excitement, and then another three before Luke suggested – well, demanded – that they should form a band.

The four boys became the best of friends in the blink of an eye, but to Alex, something with his friendship with Luke felt different from his friendships with Bobby and Reggie. Alex figured it was just because they were different people.

His parents kept saying how proud they were of him because Alex took to the drums like a prodigy, and he was getting _good_.

* * *

The year the boys turned 12, their band finally got a name: Sunset Curve.

* * *

A bright, sunny day in July – the 19th of 1990, to be exact – Alex awoke to the excited squeal of a nine-year-old girl and the weight of the same girl suddenly falling on to his chest, pushing all the air out of his lungs.

“Aaaaalex!” Adeline almost vibrated with excitement, Alex had been too deep in sleep to understand anything just yet, “it’s your birthdaaaaaaay!!”

Oh, right.

Alex suddenly smiled. He was 12 now, the sun was out already, and well, his sister was being a little ball of energy as usual, but things could definitely be worse.

“Honey, don’t scare your brother like that,” their mom chuckled as she and Charles – their dad – entered his bedroom.

“I swear, one of these days you’re going to give him a heart attack,” Charles said, laughter glittering in his eyes and a smile bright on his face.

“Daaaad,” Alex whined, “I’m not that old.”

“Are you sure? Cause I think I see a gray hair.”

Alex gasped, hand shooting to his hair.

His parents broke out in laughter. “I’m just kidding with you, ‘Lex,” Charles laughed, pulling his arm out from behind his back, handing Alex a long but thin, rectangular box with a bow on it, “happy birthday, son.”

Alex’s hands moved quickly to pull off the bow, shortly followed by the lid of the box to reveal – a brand new pair of drumsticks. Warmth spread through Alex’s chest. He really needed new ones.

“Thank you!” Alex said excitedly, hugging both his parents. Amelie and Charles gave each other one of those looks Alex thought was a whole silent conversation in a language he clearly didn’t speak.

It was weird.

“You haven’t even seen the best part!” Adeline interrupted.

“I haven’t?”

“She’s right, sweetie. There’s more,” Amelie said, waving her hand for Alex to follow, “come here.”

Confused, Alex got out of bed and followed his parents, his sister skipping along with energy resembling a puppy.

It almost seemed like it was her birthday, he thought.

Together, all four of them wound through the hallways, through the living room, and finally down into the basement. They stopped in front of the door to what used to be his dad’s office but wasn’t in use anymore because apparently, they wanted to renovate it.

Alex’s brows furrowed. “Dad’s old office?” he questioned, “what’s so great about that?”

Charles smiled secretively. “Just take a look, will you?”

And so, Alex did. He took a step forward and opened the door

His jaw fell to the floor.

Behind that door sat a brand new, high-end drum kit, a record player, a record cabinet, and a small sofa. The walls were now painted a soft, muted blue, and the room itself was definitely big enough to fit the rest of the band.

The boys would die when they got to see this.

Actually, Alex might just die himself. He could just imagine how many sunset Curve songs would be written in this very room. The _history_ they would create.

Alex’s mind was blown. Which. Clearly was showcased with the way his mouth opened and closed again multiple times, as he was struggling to find the words to say.

“I- I…. THANK YOU!!!” he exclaimed and enveloped his parents in a tight hug, tears in his eyes.

“We’re so proud of how far you’ve come, Alex,” Amelie said softly, her voice filled with love, “and you’re getting older so we figured you would want somewhere a little more private to hang out with the boys and write music or just rehearse. Maybe one day even record something.”

“We just want to know that we support you fully if this is something you really want to pursue,” Charles added.

“I don’t even know what to say. Just – just thank you. You guys are the best.” He gave them another tight hug. “The boys are going to absolutely lose their minds when they see this! they might even move in, just so you know,” he laughed.

“We can deal with that,” his dad laughed.

“I told you you hadn’t seen the best part yet,” Adeline said smugly, “but just so you know, you will have to let me in here occasionally.”

Alex scoffed. “Okay, but I’ll have to be present for that.” He reached down to ruffle her hair. Adeline let out a noise of protest and smoothed down her hair. That’s exactly what he would have done, Alex noticed, warmth spreading in his chest. His family really was the best.

“Man, I can’t wait to show this to the guys!”

* * *

As Alex had expected, they completely lost their minds.

* * *

The year they turned 12 was also the year Luke and Reggie started talking about all the cute girls at school for the first time. How soft their hair looked, and how pretty their smiles were.

Alex didn't really understand the fuss, but Bobby didn't either, so he didn't bother to worry about it.

Alex and Bobby were always talking about music instead, and all the bands they wanted to see, so he figured they were both too focused on music to worry about girls.

* * *

At 13, Reggie got his first girlfriend. It lasted exactly 6 weeks, which Alex thought was a long time.

Too long.

In his opinion, at least. But no one would ask, and he wouldn’t tell.

One day at band practice, Reggie excitedly told the guys about how he'd gotten his hand up Stella's shirt, and how soft her boobs were.

This time Bobby was more interested, and Luke was freaking out in excitement on his buddy’s behalf.

Alex still didn't see the appeal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I kind of made Alex's parents supportive and loving, but don't worry - I love torturing my characters, so that will eventually change. Just to make it hurt more 😈
> 
> I still feel like it's important to show that there's an underlying problematic stance there, for canon-compliant reasons.


	2. Awake

* * *

“Alexander Mercer,” their science teacher said, looking down at the sheet of paper in her hand, “you’ll be working with Marc Thompson.” She then moved on to the next lab duo, but Alex didn’t hear a single word after she’d said those two words. Marc. Thompson.

Alex gulped, suddenly feeling really nervous.

He probably shouldn’t. He’d be fine, right? Yeah, Marc was the quarterback, and even at 14 that meant something, but he was always smiling brightly or laughing heartily whenever Alex saw him in the halls. His brown hair was always artfully tousled and soft looking, and his blue eyes seemed to sparkle, as cliché as that sounded. Alex had always wondered how Marc managed to shine so brightly, like the room always got a little bit brighter and warmer whenever Marc would enter. Alex wanted to do that too.

Well. Maybe he could do without the attention that came along with that shine.

Alex sucked in a deep, slightly shaky breath, and moved over to the work station they’d been assigned. “Hey man,” Marc greeted cheerfully, giving Alex one of those bright smiles. Something fluttered somewhere inside of Alex’s gut. “I’m Marc.”

“Uh – Alex,” Alex said weakly, giving Marc a halfhearted wave in Marc’s direction.

“Yeah, I know,” Marc replied, still just as cheerful and smile almost brighter. Alex felt weird. Like… warm? But not like he was blushing. It was weird. “You’re the drummer in Sunset Curve, right?” And that. Of all the things Marc could have said, Alex would never have guessed _that_.

“I- uh- yeah,” Alex rubbed at the back of his neck, “y-you’ve heard of us?”

“Yeah, man! I’ve seen a couple of your shows actually, you guys are pretty good,” Marc said, “especially that cover you did of _Come As You Are_ at your last gig. That was so good!”

Alex blinked. The super cool football player was into Nirvana? Enough to instantly recognize the song? What?

“You like Nirvana?” Alex questioned before he could stop himself, his surprise clearly seeping through in his tone.

Marc chuckled. “Yeah, we all have layers, you know,” Marc said, giving Alex a lopsided smile as he started assembling the Bunsen burner they would be using for the experiment. Alex’s eyes went wide, panic welling up inside of him.

“I- I didn’t mean to-“

“Alex, man,” Marc cut him off quickly, effectively stopping Alex’s thoughts before they could spiral out of control, “I’m just teasing you. I know I don’t really come across as a rock fan, and maybe especially not grunge fan. It’s fine.”

Alex chuckled nervously, rubbing at his neck again. “Yeah, uhm, I- I didn’t really expect that,” he admitted. “Uh,” Alex started and then stopped, not knowing exactly how to move the conversation forward. Alex’s mind was still kind of blown and that weird warmth kept spreading and Alex was just _confused_. “D-do you usually listen to Nirvana, or was that a one off? I mean, they just released it as a single so you could have heard it on the radio, I guess.”

“Yeah, my dad is a huge fan of rock, so I’ve picked up some recommendations from him. And when they came out with _Nevermind_ last year I was hooked.”

“Oh, man. That album is a masterpiece. It’s going to be legendary, I can feel it,” Alex said dreamily, “although, I don’t always understand the lyrics. But the whole vibe is just… amazing.”

Clearly Alex had nothing to be nervous about. Working with Marc was a breeze.

* * *

“Hey, man!” Luke exclaimed as soon as he saw Alex in the hall after science, and slung his arm over Alex’s shoulder. “How was science? Did you make anything explode?”

“Ha ha,” Alex said drily, «and it was pretty good. I got paired with Marc an-“

“Wait, Marc? Marc Thompson? The quarterback?”

“The one and only,” Alex agreed, visions of said boy’s bright smile flashing vividly in Alex’s mind, “and dude, you’re not gonna believe this, but he’s a _fan_.”

“Fan?” Luke questioned, brows furrowing together in confusion. Alex nodded.

“Of Sunset Curve.”

“WHAT?!” Luke nearly screeched, stopping dead in his tracks. “We have fans?”

“Hey, guys!” Reggie chimed in as he and Bobby caught up to Luke and Alex. Bobby took one glance at Luke and shook his head at the other boy, a smile spreading out over his lips.

“Alex, did you break Luke again?” he chuckled.

“Duuuuude,” Luke breathed, Bobby’s words clearly shaking him out of his shocked state, “we have fans!”

Bobby and Reggie both balked at that.

“What?”

Alex sighed and settled in to reiterate the whole story of science class to the boys. 

Bobby gaped as Alex finished the story. “Marc Thompson is a Sunset Curve fan?”

“Evidently,” Alex replied. He definitely understood why the boys were shocked. Alex’s mind was still a little blown too.

“Man, that’s so cool!” Reggie exclaimed. Alex definitely agreed with that.

* * *

Alex and Marc quickly became friends after that day. Evidently Marc loved music about as much as the boys of Sunset Curve.

* * *

“I have a girlfriend!” Reggie suddenly announced at band practice one Wednesday evening.

“Again?” Alex asked, at the same time as Bobby asks “Already? Dude, we’re two weeks into the school year.”

“Yeah, so?” Reggie asks defensively, folding his arms across his chest, chin jutting out, purposely ignoring Alex’s comment.

“That- … okay,” Alex muttered. He still didn’t see the appeal of the girls that the rest of the boys raved about, and Reggie seemed to date half the girls in their school for like a day or a week, and then one of them would move on. It seemed tiring to Alex, but hey. If Reggie was happy…

“Who’s the unlucky girl this time?” Luke asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Emily Parker,” he said proudly. Which. Alex could kind of understand. She was objectively pretty, with her long blonde hair flowing over her shoulders and bright green eyes.

Luke grimaced. Didn’t he see- ?

Oh. Right.

_Emily_.

Yeah that was a bit weird, huh?

Reggie seemed to understand what Luke was thinking.

“Dude, it’s not that weird,” he said defensively.

“It’s a little weird, dude,” Alex said, voice high pitched and stretching the word little.

“I agree,” Bobby chimed in. Luke nodded vigorously, his face still twisted into a grimace of disgust.

“Whatever,” Reggie muttered, “it’s not like she looks anything like your mom, though.”

Which. Yeah, Alex could give him that at least.

A week later Reggie was single again.

* * *

Apparently, their teachers had decided that the last year of junior high should be about teamwork. Alex didn’t think there was a single class where he wasn’t paired up with someone. And it was never any of the boys, even when they were in the same class.

It wasn’t really that bad, but Alex would like to work on something by himself for once. It didn’t make sense either, in his opinion at least. If it was to get people to know each other it was a bit late to start that in their last year. Alex really could have done without all the new partners. He had enough anxiety as it was, worrying about not dragging anyone down with him if he did a bad job – not that he ever actually did, he did have straight A’s for a reason – was an addition he did not need.

He did get a few new friends out of it though. Especially Marc – his stomach did that weird thing again when Alex even thought of the other boy – and Melissa in his English class.

Alex and Luke were in English together and Luke kept giving Alex these weird, like smug, looks whenever he and Melissa would sit close together pouring over a book while researching their paper. If their shoulders brushed against each other Luke would always look so excited. Alex thought he was being really weird.

“I don’t even know where to start,” Alex said, frustration bleeding thickly into his tone. “How are we supposed to just pick one Greek god to write about? Couldn’t we have gotten a topic where there weren’t like thousands of people to choose from??”

“It’s seriously dumb,” Melissa agreed, releasing her breath in a frustrated huff.

“I’m seriously starting to consider Luke’s idea of just dropping out and gamble everything on becoming a rock star,” Alex groaned, “Melissa, I’m starting to consider Luke’s ideas. _Luke_. The boy only has one functional brain cell. And he shares it with Reggie. What is wrong with me??”

That made her flat out laugh. Melissa had a really nice smile, he noted. Alex could objectively see that she was pretty, especially when she smiled.

“Maybe Luke has managed the impossible and come up with a good plan,” she said, her eyes still bright with laughter, “I definitely think you guys have a shot at making it though.”

“Yeah?”

“Definitely. I can just see it,” she said, flailing her hands as she illustrated her vision, “the marques of The Orpheum advertising Sunset Curve: sold out.” Her voice had a dreamy, far-away tone to it. Alex could see it in his mind’s eye too. Sunset Curve selling out The Orpheum. Damn. That would be th-

Wait. Orpheum.

“Dude, The Orpheum,” Alex exclaimed, smacking her shoulder lightly. Melissa’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion for a second, before they smoothed out again as she seemed to understand what Alex was thinking.

“Orpheus,” they said at the same time, laughing as they realized what they were doing.

“The god of music,” she muttered, smiling to herself, “how fitting.”

Alex blushed. “Uh... yeah, gotta sneak in the music somehow, right?” he said awkwardly.

“Okay, so. We need to find some books on Orpheus. Ooooh, or maybe we can find an encyclopedia or something first and move from there?” She seemed to be thinking out loud more than actually addressing Alex, but he still chimed in with an “Sounds like a plan, boss.”

Alex managed to dig up two volumes on general Greek mythology, and one about music in ancient times, as well as the encyclopedia they needed for the overview. Melissa even managed to find one book purely about Orpheus and Orphism.

They began reading.

“Oh man,” Alex suddenly says, “listen to this: while walking in the tall grass among her people at her wedding to Orpheus, Eurydice was set upon by satyr. In her efforts to get away, she fell into a nest of vipers and suffered a fatal bite to the heel.” Alex paused, pulling a face.

“Yikes, that sounds like an awful way to die.”

“Right,” Alex agreed, imagining for a second what that must feel like, being bitten to death, dying by poisoning. He shuddered at the thought. “And it gets worse.”

“Worse than death by poisoning at your own wedding?” Melissa’s eyebrows shot up towards her hairline.

“Yeah,” Alex breathed, “Orpheus was the one to discover her body.”

“Yikes,” she agreed, “can you imagine? Finding your wife dead at your wedding.”

Alex could not. Not only because that had to be really painful, but he couldn’t even imagine getting married, standing at the altar waiting for his bride. The thought didn’t sit right with him. He didn’t say any of that, though, he just said: “that had to be brutal.”

Alex continued reading. “it says he was so devastated that the songs he played were so sad and mournful that all the nymphs and gods wept,” Alex balks at that. “Imagine creating music so powerful that you can literally make gods weep.”

Melissa laughed at the wistful look on Alex’s face. “Should I be concerned that you wanna make gods cry?”

Alex blushed. “What? No! I just – creating something that powerful is the goal, is all. That’s the beauty of music, right.”

“Yeah, definitely,” she agreed, “see? I stand by what I said. Sunset Curve is bound to play The Orpheum one day.”

“Yeah?” Alex questioned, feeling a warmth spreading through his body. Maybe this was what the boys always talked about?

Did he like Melissa? Obviously he liked her, she was a great person and a good friend, but did he _like_ her like her?

Alex shook off the thought and continued reading, a comfortable silence settling between them.

“Oh, look. He went to the Underworld to get Eurydice back,” Alex suddenly said.

Melissa cooed, brushing her curly brown hair out of her face. The shade of her was almost exactly the same as Marc’s, he noted absentmindedly.

“That’s so cute!”

“Oh, but then he fucked it up apparently,” Alex continued and started reading the whole paragraph out loud:

 _His music softened the hearts of Hades and Persephone, who agreed to allow Eurydice to return with him to earth_ _on one condition: he should walk in front of her and not look back until they both had reached the upper world. Orpheus set off with Eurydice following; however, as soon as he had reached the upper world, he immediately turned to look at her, forgetting in his eagerness that both of them needed to be in the upper world for the condition to be met. As Eurydice had not yet crossed into the upper world, she vanished for the second time, this time forever._

_In fact, instead of choosing to die in order to be with the one he loved, he mocked the gods by trying to go to Hades to bring her back alive. Since his love was not true —he did not want to die for love_ _— he was actually punished by the gods, first by giving him only the apparition of his former wife in the underworld, and then by being killed by women._

“Being killed by women?” Melissa repeated, bitterness seeping into her tone.

Alex shook his head. “Apparently.”

“Cause it’s worse to be killed by women than men?” she deadpanned.

“I’d be more concerned with the part where I got _killed_ ,” Alex stressed, “someone needs to sort out their priorities.”

“You can say that again,” she scoffed. “Okay so how did he actually die?”

Alex continued reading. “Orpheus was said to have been torn to pieces by Ciconian women after he rejected their advances –“

Melissa snorts at that. “That sounds a bit dramatic.”

Alex agrees. 

“Ovid recounts that Orpheus had abstained from the love of women, either because things ended badly for him, or because he had sworn to do so,” he continued, “yet, many felt a desire to be joined with the poet, and many grieved at rejection. Indeed, he was the first of the Thracian people to transfer his affection to young- ” Alex broke off. His whole world seemed to tilt. He cleared his throat and continued on, “ _boys_ … and enjoy their brief springtime, and early flowering this side of manhood.”

“So basically like you then?” Melissa questioned. A chill went down Alex’s back, his blood seemed to freeze.

“W-what?”

“You know,” she paused. No. No, he did _not_ know. “Like if he was real, you’d be right up his alley. You know, totally his type, by the sounds of it.”

Alex chuckled nervously. “Yeah, sounds like it.”

His heart began beating again. He continued on: “feeling spurned by Orpheus for taking only male lovers, the Ciconian women – followers of Dionysus – first threw sticks and stones at him as he played, but his music was so beautiful even the rocks and branches refused to hit him. Enraged, the women tore him to pieces during the frenzy of their Bacchic orgies- ”

“Oh yeah, that’s definitely overdramatic, like chill, the dude likes boys, it’s not his fault,” She said, voice calm and even, although tainted with a bit of exasperation, “also, ew, they killed him at an orgy? Ew to all parts of that sentence.”

He… he was killed for liking boys.

Alex gulped.

“Uh – uhm… anyway, so,” Alex tried to shake himself out of… whatever was happening to his body, and continued his reading. “His head and lyre, still singing mournful songs, floated down the River Hebrus into the sea, after which the winds and waves carried them to the island of Lesbos –“

“Heh, Lesbos,” Melissa cracked a smile at that, “get it? Like lesbians?”

Alex chuckled softly, mind racing, and continued on: “ -at the city of Methymna; there, the inhabitants buried his head and a shrine was built in his honor near Antissa; there his oracle prophesied, until it was silenced by Apollo. 

“The Muses also gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Leibethra below Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang over his grave. After the river Sys floodedLeibethra, the Macedonians took his bones to Dion. Orpheus' soul returned to the underworld, to the fields of the Blessed, where he was reunited at last with his beloved Eurydice.”

“Aw, they got to stay together in the end,” Melissa cooed, seemingly unaware of the absolute crisis Alex was going through.

This. This is why he never found the girls all that interesting. They were girls.

Oh.

Oh fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I swear there's a point to all the info about Orpheus, but you'll just have to wait and see what it is.
> 
> Also Marc was just supposed to be a minor character but he dug his way into my heart so yeah. Now he's a bit more central. Oops?


End file.
